Amazon pulls Kindle DX from store, death may be imminent

Be honest: around $400 was always a bit much for a single-task device.

In the age of multifunction tablets, expensive e-readers are a hard sell.

The Kindle DX has been retired from Amazon's e-reader lineup, as reported by the-eBook-Reader.com on Monday. While the e-reader with the 9.7-inch display held onto its place in Amazon's store for over three years, the Kindle DX has been outpaced in price-to-capability ratio by Amazon's competitors.

The Kindle DX, a super-sized version of Amazon's regular E Ink Kindle, first debuted in the summer of 2009 and initially retailed for $489. The DX's price fell incrementally over the years, holding steady for some time at $379 before falling to $299 last week in an apparent attempt to sell through remaining stock.

Amazon has yet to comment publicly on the matter (we'll update if they respond to our request for comment), so it's unclear if the white (or black) whale is actually dead or just going dormant in the face of an update. But given that Amazon just held an event to announce a slew of new products and the DX didn't merit a mention, it's likely time to say goodbye and goodnight.

But we can't be too sad: nearly $400 for a giant, single-task, slow-moving slab of an e-reader was increasingly difficult to justify in a landscape that includes the $119 Kindle Paperwhite, $200 Nexus 7, $200 Kindle Fire HD, or $399 iPad 2. None of them are exactly the same, but as the tablet and e-reader markets develop, it's clear that the Kindle DX no longer made the right compromises.

What made the Kindle DX most unattractive is that they never updated it. So as newer Kindles had better e-Ink screens, the Kindle DX was stuck in the past.

As good as it looked, the new ones look better. And to pay a premium on top of it...

This. I would have gladly purchased one (as they predated the iPad) but the screens were awful. However, for reading engineering reference material I found the smaller screen Kindles too small. The iPad is still cramped but workable. I doubt there's much of a market for something even bigger than an iPad that's not a laptop.

It's interesting reading through the reviews on Amazon for the DX from back in 2009. For instance: "-- price: it's expensive, as you can tell pretty quickly. If you value the larger size, and the native PDF reader, these features may justify the roughly 30% premium you pay for the DX over the Kindle 2." (bolding mine)

I'll admit to never being a fan of e-ink readers anyway, but I always felt the DX was dramatically overpriced. It became even more so when the original iPad came out, let alone as time passed and it stayed static w/a barely lowered price. For the record, I've never experienced eye fatigue from a computer screen, so reading on a tablet vs an e-ink has never been a question for me. I'll take the much more full featured device every single time.

The huge screen never appealed to me - news articles are much better suited to a tablet, and for plowing through books, I prefer the feather weight of my regular kindle. I didn't expect to find the regular kindle so ideal for reading, but more screen estate is never anything I find myself lacking while reading.

Yes, last year we were told 2012 would be the year of the colored e-reader IIRC. The only colors I've seen were of the devices themselves. I love my kindle (those new paper-white thingies are even better) but it would be nice to be able to read a magazine on it with color pictures.

As a college student, I have tons of stuff I need to read that I get handed to me in PDF format on 8.5x11 sized pages. Most of this originates from LaTeX and is full of math and black-and-white diagrams. My kindle would have been perfect, but the screen on the smaller kindles just doesn't have the resolution to resolve an 8.5x11 document comfortably. One time I even got a professor to re-compile his LaTeX docs in a kindle-sized format for me. If only the Kindle DX were a bit cheaper at the time.

Now I have an iPad 3, and the resolution makes it great for my purposes, but I've always liked reading off e-ink screens a bit more than backlit LCDs, even though the iPad's screen is fantastic.

The huge screen never appealed to me - news articles are much better suited to a tablet, and for plowing through books, I prefer the feather weight of my regular kindle. I didn't expect to find the regular kindle so ideal for reading, but more screen estate is never anything I find myself lacking while reading.

Agreed. The only person I knew who bought and liked the DX has poor vision and wanted a screen capable of using a large font and still being able to show a reasonable amount of text. The standard kindle's 6" screen is somewhat smaller than the text area in a mass market paperback; and page size is one of the reasons why large print books (almost?) never come out in the smaller form factor. (Small print runs and the higher margins in HC is probably the main second reason.)

I started out with the regular Kindle when it was first released and picked up a DX when it was first released as well. I read very quickly and the smaller Kindle requires too many page turns. The DX gives me the equivalent of a regular book's worth of words on the page. I've got a backup (refurb) just in case my current one breaks, I like it that much.

I bought the DX in late 2010 and as of today I am very happy of having paid the steep price of 379$.For one who reads a lot of pdfs (read: all or most students), the screen size is invaluable. The comparison with iPad etc is infeasible, not only for the different screen technology, but first and foremost for the practicality of battery life: 10 hours VS 20 days, not even comparable.

I use DX for pdf reading almost exclusively. Alas some manuscripts (often double column formatted ones) are still rendered not readable. I would gladly upgrade to something having more resolution. ECTACO jetBook is 1600x1200 9.7" Color E Ink screen, but $500 sticker makes it little less attractive. Given that many chinese touchpad are encroaching to $50 territory, this market void shouldn't last long.

I own one and was miffed that it didn't get software updates like it's cheaper siblings. Even though it is noticeably heavier, I prefer it for when I plan on doing long reading as it is easier on my eyes. I would like a newer Paperwhite version but not sure if I would buy it given the bad support they provided over the life of the past Kindle DX

The E-Ink display is great for reading books - much less eye fatigue than with a tablet, but Amazon didn't drop the price significantly (it was only $100 less than an iPad) and they didn't update the system software (it was less capable than the Kindle Keyboard). I always wondered what happened there for Amazon, was there a technical problem that didn't allow good yields on 10 ink e-ink displays or did they just not care?

There is a market for a good 10 inch e-ink reader (at maybe $199), but not at $399. Farewell DX.

I have a DX and I used it for a couple of years before trying out a nook color and finally settling on a Kindle 2. I don't think it was my wisest purchase and I would go back and stop myself from spending the money if I could.

It's kind of sad, since my parents were really interested in my Kindle and the idea of e-books in general, but their one complaint was always "is there one with a bigger screen?".I was hoping for some kind of update or revival but now, it seems, all hope is lost.

It's kind of sad, since my parents were really interested in my Kindle and the idea of e-books in general, but their one complaint was always "is there one with a bigger screen?".I was hoping for some kind of update or revival but now, it seems, all hope is lost.

Not sure if it's still available; but Sony sold an eInk reader with a 7" screen vs the standard 6". It's about the same size as the kindle keyboard models but since it was a touchscreen had significantly more text area. If it was from anyone but Sony I'd've probably bought it.

I bought the DX in late 2010 and as of today I am very happy of having paid the steep price of 379$.For one who reads a lot of pds (read: all or most students), the screen size is invaluable. The comparison with iPad etc is infeasible, not only for the different screen technology, but first and foremost for the practicality of battery life: 10 hours VS 20 days, not even comparable.

I'm happy with it too. The larger screen makes loading maps and similar documents into it useful.

In addition to the screen size, it gives cellular-connection web access just about anywhere (which is handy for weather or tourist information if you hop off a plane and find out that your smartphone doesn't work as expected). I assume that the high price was partly to pay in advance for that extra data consumption; the newer models with WiFi access just block you from browsing over 3G.

I bought the DX in late 2010 and as of today I am very happy of having paid the steep price of 379$.For one who reads a lot of pds (read: all or most students), the screen size is invaluable. The comparison with iPad etc is infeasible, not only for the different screen technology, but first and foremost for the practicality of battery life: 10 hours VS 20 days, not even comparable.

Exact same thing for me. I bought my DX a couple years ago and have used it extensively with PDFs. I was hoping to use it for textbooks as well, but the few I tried were DRM restricted from being read on actual Kindles (what?) and so they were returned rapidly. The price is a bit steep, but the convenience couldn't have been overstated.

Now I mostly use it for ebooks and I love having the larger size. I carved out an older architectural book to use as a "case" so I can leave it anywhere without worries of being stolen.

I'll admit to never being a fan of e-ink readers anyway, but I always felt the DX was dramatically overpriced. It became even more so when the original iPad came out, let alone as time passed and it stayed static w/a barely lowered price. For the record, I've never experienced eye fatigue from a computer screen, so reading on a tablet vs an e-ink has never been a question for me. I'll take the much more full featured device every single time.

Ok, I just have to ask - what is it about this posting that justified anyone downgrading it? I can't see anything that was said that warranted anyone taking issue with it.

I bought a DX for technical books and PDF data sheets. The screen was nice but the device was terribly slow for paging through a document to find something. The iPad works much better for technical references. I still love my smaller kindle for books.

If you're a computer science student and/or like Orielly or Manning technical books the DX puts all the smaller e-readers to shame. It rocks for larger technical books (with their diagrams and charts).And for reading PDF manuals or PDF printouts, it's great.Just flipping pages is slow, but you can search for the specific words which helps.

The DX has it's place and unless they update it, it will be PERMANENTLY part of my technical book collection.

You'll have to pry mine out of my cold, dead fingers. I love e-ink, and I really appreciate the larger screen; my eyes aren't what they once were, and it's nice being able to both have a larger font and a lot of words on the screen.

If they'd done an updated version, like one of the new "paperwhite" displays, I might have jumped on it. As is, I'll probably use this one until it breaks. I've already got an amazing amount of time on it, and it's working well, so hopefully it will hold up.

I'll admit to never being a fan of e-ink readers anyway, but I always felt the DX was dramatically overpriced. It became even more so when the original iPad came out, let alone as time passed and it stayed static w/a barely lowered price. For the record, I've never experienced eye fatigue from a computer screen, so reading on a tablet vs an e-ink has never been a question for me. I'll take the much more full featured device every single time.

Ok, I just have to ask - what is it about this posting that justified anyone downgrading it? I can't see anything that was said that warranted anyone taking issue with it.

It seems a pity that when the DX is gone, there will be no large-screen e-ink reader (at least not by any of the major makers) left standing. I got one for my dad due to his low vision, and it's great for him; a 7 or 6-inch screen simply could not work with the font size he needs. But low vision is not a big enough niche (for which read, "young enough niche"--this is tech, after all) to justify keeping it going, I guess; other than specialized uses, folk want small, light devices. So it goes.

...The DX screen is so roomy I'd love to have one myself, for most of the reasons others have stated; I'm in the dwindling group that does find a difference in eye comfort between backlit screens and e-ink. Well, there's always Ebay.

This had potential to be amazing for low vision readers, but the interface is lacking. The price was actually tolerable for this purpose, even at $489. I don't think a lot of people understand products that don't appeal to them, and this is a great example of that. People see what you get per dollar and find the DX lacking. But certain niches need to be filled. This is one of the only options for a large e-ink ebook reader with a connected store and anywhere wireless connection.

We bought one for our grandmother who has macular degeneration and needed large print. When she's in a book, it's great. She wouldn't be able to read without it. All the other interface controls are difficult, though, especially when they're an unadjustable font size.

Alas, it was the 10" screen that made me willing to go with anything Amazon makes; I'm much more partial to the Nook hardware. (Expandable memory FTW! Backlight! Hardware I can handle in person before I buy!)

The user interface is better on the Nook, and I'm not partial to popover ads. Page-turn buttons are a huge plus; I don't know why Amazon is ditching those.